According to The Hollywood Reporter, twice-Oscar nominated actress Jackie Weaver (The Disaster Artist) is joining the cast of Steve McQueen’s crime thriller Widows. The impressive cast already boasts this past year’s Oscar Winner Viola Davis (Fences), Michelle Rodriguez (The Fate of the Furious), Elizabeth Debicki (Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2), Tony winner Cynthia Erivo (Broadway’s The Color Purple), Oscar-winning actor Robert Duvall (The Judge), Oscar-nominated actor Liam Neeson (Silence), Colin Farrell (Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them), Andre Holland (Moonlight), and Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out).
Davis, Rodriguez, Debicki and Erivo play four women whose husbands are killed during a failed armed robbery attempt. The surviving widows join together to pull off the heist themselves. McQueen and Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl) wrote the script which is based on the 1983 British miniseries of the same name. The miniseries was written by Lynda La Plante (Prime Suspect). The feature film adaptation was set up at New Regency, with See-Saw Films producing along with McQueen. Film 4 is co-financing. 20th Century Fox will distribute the film.
Weaver was nominated twice for Best Supporting Actress Oscars – for 2013’s Silver Lining Playbook and 2011’s Animal Kingdom. She has several irons in the fire – she has finished filming a couple of James Franco-directed vehicles (The Disaster Artist and Zeroville) and is currently filming Jake Scott’s The Burning Woman. She will appear in the comedy Life of the Party as Melissa McCarthy’s mother, and in the drama Irreplaceable You; both are in post-production. She has just been announced to join the comedy Poms opposite Oscar-winning actress Diane Keaton (Finding Dory).
Widows will roll out in theaters on November 16, 2018.